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I also thought that it was nice to see him mentioned. It seems odd that he is so seldom mentioned in the diary. Based on the diary entries, Grandma appears to be closer to her mother than her father. Maybe he generally was too busy with farm work to be very involved in the day-to-day activities of the children.

Interesting that she refers to the hen as “her” and not “it.” I think because back then kids knew exactly where their meat/poultry came from, and if it was male or female; it wasn’t an abstract notion that assembly line slaughterhouses enable today. I believe people who eat meat should know exactly what the animal goes through to get to their stomach, and choose as humanely as possible.

Hello

I look forward to sharing my grandmother's diary with relatives and friends. Helena Muffly (Swartz) kept a diary from 1911-1914. She was 15 years old when she began this diary. I plan to post these entries one day at a time—exactly 100 years after she wrote them. I hope you enjoy this glimpse back to a slower paced time.

The header is a picture of the farm where my grandmother lived when she wrote this diary. It is located in Northumberland County in central Pennsyvlania about a mile outside of McEwenvsille. My father said that the buildings look similar to what they looked like when he was a child.